>> later a hearing on music and licensing rights. the consumer federation of america hosted an event today. one of the speakers was mark rosekind who talks about the mission's agencies and steps being taken to protect drivers. this is 30 minutes.

>> i think we will start if everybody has their coffee and we are ready to launch this. my name is jacky gillan and i am president for advocates of highway safety. i have the honor of introducing this morning's speaker, dr. rosekind who is the 15th administrator of the national highway traffic safety administration and he was sworn into office this past december 2 22nd. i got to know him after he was appointed to serve on the national transportation and safety board in 2010. we worked together on semple safety issues with impaired and distracted driving.

mark's dedication is rooted in his professional life and professional career. he spoke about his father publically san francisco police officer who tragically died into the line of duty by a driver who ran a red light. and like many other room in the men administrator rosekind married up. his wife is a successful pediatrician practicing in the san francisco bay area. his studies and professional career prepared him well for the challenge of being this administrator. i realize we are going late so i am going to brush over the introduction so we can get to mark. but he was an academic super star and went to the leader universities for under graduate

and graduate degrees that main wanted to attend but few were smart enough to get into such as stanford, yale and brown. he is an internationally recognized on human fatigue and he is the recipient of numerous awards acknowledging his innovative research and program designs. his expertise in fatigue management and alertness may be the most important qualification for handling the demands and long hours he is experiencing with this administration over the past 81 day ses but who is counting, right? we know there are many challenges facing the agency and critical safety issues to advance and there is not much time. all of us are rooting for your success and appreciate you joining us today to share the program and planning priorities. thank you very much,

administrator rosekind. [applause] >> jacky, thank you for that very generous introduction. i know jacky well enough when she sends a note that says i have a goody no body can say about you. i know you yours and you were kind enough to not put mine out there and i realize you have a big day. this is a warmup. going to the news talent next and secretary per ez after that. i wanted to thank jack gillis for the opportunity to join me. it has been five decades with cfa helping all of us to create fair products. and this is a vital part of the work. those who know me if i knew there was a power point opportunity i would have gotten my academic slides out and been

wondering around. instead, gordon here is our communication guy sitting back there saying stick to the prepared remarks so i will be good. today what i am going to do is review the challenges and the opportunities that are before us in road and highway safety. specifically how we are working to achieve our mission of reducing death and injuries on the roadways and highways. in all of the work i'm going to describe today time is cleary of the essence and that is because my time will expire but 32,000 people lost their lives from car accidents. that is 250 people injured every hour. they were mothers fathers, daughter sons loved ones. and every one of the deaths was

preventable. they deserve all of our best to ensure we prevent additional deaths and injuries in the future. so the next two years is going to be a sprint. we have no time to waste. we are going to use every minute to make americans safer on the roads and highwaysism. and every american whether they drive, ride or walk should arrive at their destination safely. every time every one of them and there should be no alosses. we will strengthen whatever is working well fix what doesn't and use all of tools we can to reduce crashes. let me briefly describe three specific priorities we have over the next three years. we must strengthen how they

recall cars and equipment. resources including people technology and authority present challenges to our efforts in this area. we have to address the issue through mechanisms like seeking more people new technology and increased authority. recent cases involving gm and toccata demonstrate the importance of getting this right. it is our responsibility to do everything week to prevent death and injuries related to defects. we have a commitment to the families and friends affected by roadway tragedies. and to you that we will explore every idea use every authority, employ every tool to prevent such tragedies on the roadways. we have launched several missions to improve technology to catch more defects and sooner. i can tell you that work is continuous and will be vigorously pursued. in january, we levied a $70

million maximum fine against hond honda for failing to report death over a decade. our actions are pushing honda to raise the far on their reporting system and it will ensure compliance and it will determine if there is cause for additional actions. last mopth we levied new fines in the toccata airbag case and they are accumulating at a rate of $14,000 a day and keep accumulating until tuecotta lives up to their end of the deal. -- tocotta -- we're going it take any actions allowed under the law to hold manufacturers accountable. but the law doesn't currently provide the agency with sufficient authority to hold bad apples fully accountable.

and that is why secretary fox requested new authority and resources so we can better protect consumers against companies that put lives at risk. we will continue to move with authority to make sure companies don't put private profit ahead of public safety or withhold critical safety information. i have been here 81 days and i have been counting. there are examples showing our willingness to stand up and fight on behalf of the consumer. another priority is to strengthen the core safety programs. the agency has very well-established highly successful names like click it or tick it drive sober, get pulled over and mow are recently you tex you drive you pay. these campaigns are changing attitudes and how americans drive and saving lives. the agencies grants state and local governments foundation for the safety working across the

nation. these partnerships are essential to providing resources to enforce laws against drunk and distracted drivers and technical assistance on driver's license and saving lives where the rubber meets the road in each state. this work garners much less attention to know the efforts on vehicle defects. it is critical to address where significant safety risks exist. in fact the last element in the chain of events leading to a crash is the human 94% of the time. secretary fox made our work on pedestrian and bicycle safety a major priority of the department. there is a focus on the ground breaking transportation study called beyond traffic and we look toward traditional and tech nilogical approaches that can reduce death and injuries.

would being we cannot forget the role the agency's plays in advancing fuel efficiency and that moves forward with standards that work and support the president' goal of the climate action plan. and we are grateful for cfa for their efforts in this area. third priority is technology and innovation. what we will be doing is emphasising and supporting technology across the board. they have been critical to saving lives and preventing injuries on the road ways. from the most basic lake a seat belt to the collision warning and automatic brake systems. they play a critical role to examine safety. we did a study examining the role of safety being increase by

technology we found 16,000 lives have been saved due to technology and number one of the list was seatbelts. far and above everything. those lives saved with the reason we enhance safety through technology. we are excited about technology and encourage innovation and safety. that is why we continue to move vehicle to vehicle communication forward. a game-changing innovation that has the potential to help drivers avoid hundreds of thousands of crashes every year. and technology innovation and safety together really represent the greatest value to the traveling public. those are three priorities over the next three years and it will involve a great deal of sprinting to accomplish by 2017. throughout the years, i will be listening to you and many different groups to explore

thing do is help the mission. all of the work is guided by three principles. first effectiveness. we will use the tools available to achieve the safety mission but bring the best ideas, processes and people to reduce death and injury on the road. we will pursue any means possible to help us be more effective. the second principle is communication. the public needs to know what we do and how we do it. we build trust by ensuring the american people understand why we do watt we do. you will see diverse changes in how we communicate with the public across nearly ever platform. we will do so in clear and

direct terms so technical information is accessible. we need to look across the board for opportunities to innovate everything we do. that is how we always did things is not an acceptable response. the question where we are doing well is how can we innovate and be more effective? how can we explore new ways to keep it safe on the roads? if we keep driving down deaths and injuries on the road. any successes are shared by all of the dedicated individuals at csa and the organizations represented in the room and all of you. all of you dedicated your lives and that is what it will take to serve the public interest and help reduce deaths and injuries on the road ways. transportation touches every single person every single day.

we share a responsibility to make sure transportation system as safe as possible. together we can deliver on the promise of safety for all-americans whether they drive, walk or ride. i hope you join me on the two-year sprint and together we will make a difference saving lives and preventing injuries on the road. i thank you and look forward to questions. >> [applause]. >> thank you mark for staying to answer questions. any questions or should i just start out? since i introduced you i get the first windupone. the new car assessment program has been one of the big ones. do you have plans for changing that? improving that? or any other changes we should look forward to?

>> that is a great question jacky. we good? one of my favorite movies is the american president with michael dug douglas and annette bening? and why favorite them is he tries to get roses and hands her a bouquet at the end and she said how did you pull it off and he said i figured out because i have a rose garden. and i figured out i have a rose garden here and i started a special project group looking at 12-14 specific things we have going after and in the first month we started a review with an opportunity to look to innovation in n-cap. i can tell you we started

working on that and i will hope to let the secretary make an announcement coming over the spring time about the plans for the future. i really believe this is such a valuable program. started here and incredible and valuable and needs to be leading edge for what it can do. it actually has the potential to be one of the legacy programs we will try to get in place. >> thank you. other questions? >> i was wondering how you are overlag the general motors -- [inaudible question] >> what is important about that is differentiating.

there are three that deal with the highways. federal highway build them. federal motor carrier which is trucks and buses and this group. and the federal motor carrier administration are the ones who do the enforcement side and set the rules. we have truck and bus involvement because not the runs you are asking. jacky could make a comment >> you are the driver fatigue expert. that is one of our issues and i think a lot of people in the room including our organization, has to fight to make sure that roll back of the hours of service, increasing truck drivers hours of service to more than 80 hours is not going to be good. tired truckers are a serious problem on our highways.

>> rosemary? >> morning. one of the things that i apprec appreciate about the work you are doing is the closing the recall loop hole regarding recalled cars. can you comment on that? >> rosemary and i were n on the secretary bus tour and met in richmond so we could have the secretary talk and that extends to two areas, used cars and rental cars if they have been recalled they should be remedied before sold or rented. period. and i will make a generic comment that i think there are many issues like this i struggle with because they seem straight forward. people ask about recalls and

should they be a hundred percent. what else should they be? we should eliminate all deaths on the road. how can you have a recalled used or rental video and not fix it. that is a good point of having congress change what we can and the appropriate authorities week we can push it in that direction. thank you, rosemary for all of your work on that. >> can you tell us whether you have any plans for reestablishing public trust in the group by freeing you from regulatory chap -- capture. >> i will let you define regulatory capture. >> you want to ask a few other questions here too. go ahead. >> you have been criticized for

six years straight now and it has reached a point where new york times are talking about regulatory capture with your organization. do you have plans to deal with that? >> absolutely. i think what is is interesting for me is i was reading recent articles about the revolving doors and thought if this is all people can come up with i welcome that because of the difficulties this is straight forward. over annal -- an eight year period 14 people left. i can deal with that now. where you come from how you act, for us and i think the issues are straightforward thethithe things. i am aware of it but it is one

of those things i will not put forth anything except neutrality and independence and protecting the consumer. >> no plans? >> no i think i am saying that i am going to make sure there is no regulatory capture while i am there for two years. and i cannot -- all of you know this. people will live what i can control is people who come on and what i can do is make sure at the very top our decisions are made protecting consumers. >> hi. i am sally with national consumer league and used to work on auto safety a lot more when i was at consumer's union and hear you are doing a great job. i want to follow-up on the point and then i would like to ask a question that is somewhat

related. there were these real lapses in finding very serious defects. and you know time and time again, the staff just looked the other way or closed the investigations. so i think there really is a serious culture problem there. and i know we experienced it when i was at consumer's union. just the frustration of having the agency look at things that were palpable and problematic. i think if is a fair point and i don't know if is industry capture or lack of excitement for solving the problem but i think it is certainly bearing your close attention. >> and i will make a comment to be clear. i absolutely agree that we need to increase our trust. the american people need trust the agency and there is no question there has been lapses.

i am going to be the first one to tell you things were found slowly, actions were not taken that would have advanced things quickly and there are all kinds of claims about that. i am aware of those things but in two years they will be non-issues in that we will be on that and the vigilance i am talking about will be there. i cannot control who leads but i can control who comes in and i am at the top make decisions so i can tell you i am sitting in on the enforcement updates and making sure i know what is going on and i can highlightthi things like the airbag defect. we made appear an announcement about what is going on. >> that is great. we need that leadership from the talk. you were talking about heavy fines on some members of the industry for putting cars on the road knowing there was a defect

failing to report it. and when the gm in the last year or two and gm and toyota situations really exploded it became clear that the fines, are, you know only so effective and become a cost of doing business for the companies. there was a lot of talk about criminal penalties and there is evidence to suggest criminal penalties do make executeiveexecutives and those under them reacting in a stronger way to address the problems. i don't know what you are sending up to congress but have you talked about that inte is this a non-starter in congress? i am not sure it matters because i want you to say we don't want this to be a cost of business. we want someone serious about reporting and fixing problems >> i think that is a great way to point to the issue of authority because you are right

if you want to change behavior you have to get people to notice what is going on and that is everything from the fines which you know there is a lot of discussion and request to increase the $35 million max we have to $300 or no cap. and there is discussion about potential criminal concerns as well. one thing jacky and others tell you and i don't like to talk about things. i like to act. >> what is the latest on the investigation with toccata?

>> specifically to the $14,000 a day and that is the max we could do and we had two orders out so it was really $7,000 and we had a way to do $14,000 which isn't much but it is the most we can do. we had our most recent meeting yesterday. my quick understanding from attorneys is they are starting to become more forthcoming and that is saying we will find out what that means. part of the reason i am going back is to hear more about the issue. people understand 2.4 million pages of documents was the issue. in richmond we mentioned that and how it is defined and eric fox is great because people said 2.4 million and that is what the fines are about. requiring them to point to the safety relevant information. and that is not going to be one meeting but several.

my understanding is things started changing around. i am not sure how far they are but yom i am going to find out. >> i am going to close by thanking administrator rosekind for coming and thank you for walking away from a five-year appointment to take over. thank you very much and thank you for joining us today. [applause]

>> i think we will begin right away. thank you all for staying in place. we will move quickly through today's program. my name is jack gillis. i am director of the public affairs for the consumer federation of america. i would like to welcome you to the panel on investigative reporting. for consumer advocates and those working with the media investigative reporting is one of the most critical components in being an effective advocate. today we will talk about something near and dear to the hearts of advocates and that is investigative reporting. the traditional and as a result of the mms the increasingly

business challenges facing news outlets the new tapes of investigative reporting. we will look at how all of this is impacting a key pillar in consumer advocating. there are few questions being raised that will affect the ways we are able to change for policy, who is a emerging as a creditable source online how do news recipients and we consumer address the concern that the internet content is not as quality edited. and what are the challenges

atmosphere integrateing online organizations into things like "the wall street journal" and abc and such who have unchipped reservations for carefully content. we will look at where investigative reporting is going in the next five yeas years. the news about the news is kind of square -- scary. the continued erosion of news sources combined with the new media media opportunity produced people to take their message to the public without a filter. here is a snapshot from the pew report. the industry is down 30%.

in local tv sports weather and traffic are 40% of the content. cnn cut story packages in hamp. across three of the major channels throughout the day have been cut by 30%. here is where it gets interesting. to combat resources a growing list of media outlets such as forbes uses new technology to report bay way of aggor rhythm. this adds up to a new industry that is undermans and underprepared to cover stories

and dig deep into emerging ones and question what is put in their hands. howard kurtz said the average consumer can create their own news picking from sources they enjoy rather than being spoon-fed by a huge hand of media collaborations. every year for 20 years we have examine examined the media and had incredible participants. thank you for joining us today. i would like to ask a series of questions and encourage the panelist to interact with each other and most importantly encourageia to interrupt, ask questions and be part of the

discussion. the first question goes to brian ross. brian is abc's chief news correspondent. he began his career actually prior to nbc where he was -- for abc in waterloo iowa. he is a chicago native and graduate from the university of iowa that explains his beginning. he has received many awards in journalism including seven duponts, 16 emmies five oversea press award and five edward mar awards and many more. i could spend an hour listing stories that brian and his team did to generate awards. a couple are worth noting. exposing the conditions of

factories in bangladesh making clothe for tommy hill figure and walmart. pay to grade systems exposing walmart's use of oversea's child labe for the by america corporate. i was in a wal-mart and there is pictures of brian all over saying don't let this man in. there is many more stories but it must have been when he was tep years old that brian broke the abscam story. i guess brian you can be credited with the great movie "american hustle" i have to acknowledge one of abc's star investigative producers and many of you know well cindy, is in

the audience. brian, one of your award winning stories was done with the senate integrity plan. how did that come about? what do you see for the fuchler of protective sources and if there is a future what do you engage in when picking a partner that supports bias? >> we partnered with the centers of public integrity what is happening to employers filing for benefits under the black lung law. and what we discovered was that one doctor at the country's most important hospital ration john hopkins, became the company's go-to doctor and over the course of 10-15 years in every single case he failed to find black lava. every case. he thought it was some remote

bird disease and he had lots of explanations but nay never found black lava. and what chris did at the center was go back and compile the records of 1700-1800 cases and examine the findings and some of those people had died and after they died the autopsy showed they had black lung. so chris came to us from the center and with producer matt ross we worked together using the incredible research and frankly the kind of research we would naught spend a year and a half doing and putting that together with the ability to sit down at john hopkins and interview this doctor after your report that program was suspended by hopkins. the department of labor since moved to reopen every single case where they were denied. and again and again there were many minors who died who were

determined by their own doctor to have black lung and after their doctor said they didn't the government reached back and took the benefits back. that was for me one of most powerful stories we have done in recent time and led to a number of rewards but more importantly it led to real changes in how the law was administered and how the program is being looked at again by the department of labor. partnerships are not without their issues. we all seek to have credit. we tried to share the credit as much as possible. there were a number of awards. the senator won the pull prize and we won a harvard award and other rewards. it was one of the more rewarding projects. but abc would not have spent the year and half andy did to go through every medical file.

he did incredible work and we brought the ability to shape the story and give it a broad as possible broadcast and it went on every single program in the abc news. >> is this something that could happen in the future and how do you work out the issue of the organization harboring a bias you try to avoid? >> we don't want to work with bias.

>> next we have mike isikoff. he has reported on the government's war on terror u.s. intelligence failures, campaign finance and congressional ethic abuses presidential politic and the coverage of the aftermath of 9/11. what is particularly -- mike is well known for a couple stories like the exclusive reporting on the monica lieu scandal earned him attention and he won all kind of rewards as a result of the story. he is the author of two new york times best-selling books. as a result both books chronicle

chronicled much of his reporting. in 2009 mike along with brody who you will meet was named one of the 50 most influential journalist in the area. mike we are familiar with nbc and news week which maybe today we have not so familiar with. tell us about yahoo's news philosophy and how are they reaching on audience with news. >> well, thong. actually this is sort of new, uncharted territory for me in the digital space. and it is evolving. yeah -- yahoo made a commitment to be a serious news player. it invested helvein recruiting people

with katie couric being an anchor. and we are hiring other people. although yahoo is a huge silicon valley player on the news side it is like working for a startup because we are inventing it trying to see what works, explayerex exploring with different ways of delivering news through written and video. but a couple things stand out. one is the incredible reach that we have. yahoo has something like 800 million users globally. when i write stories for yahoo

now i rarely see the numbers of people attracting things. you get a rough gauge looking at comments. i never read the comments on my stories. that is a true way to go down a rabbit hole but i look at the number do is give you an idea of what is out there. and the numbers of comments i yet on what i do at yahoo is 10-20 fold greater than anything i got when i wrote for news week or online for nbc news. there is a vast audience out there in the digital space that sees your stuff and that is one reason why a lot of major news organizations have wanted to partner with yahoo. we have a partnership with abc

that was just renewed and that was a sort of highly coveted. other networks wanted to partner with yahoo. yahoo chose to continue the abc relationship and that is because two the extent that more and more people are getting their news digitly and mobile. this is where the audience is increasingly going to be. in some respects although union, in silicone valley yahoo has a reputation of something of a legacy company. it was one of the earlier internet companies. it is -- i think, very much a pioneer in the news on the web and we have got resources and

there is a commitment and i am sort of very excited about the opportunities. >> thanks mike. so you are famous for these in-depth investigative stories. the penn state story comes to behind with hours and hours. how does that translate into two paragraphs on a yahoo page? >> the stories i am doing at yahoo are a lot longer than two paragraphs. maybe that is what people see on their mobile but it is all there. we have been able to do pretty interesting investigative pieces. there is one that got a lot of attention last year. i have done a lot of reporting on the government's war on terror and particularly drone

strikes and how affective they are. we discovered a drone strike in yemen that killed a bunch of civilians in a town and caused a huge uproar in that village. anti-u.s. protest/backlash because one of those kills was an anti-al-qaeda who spoke out and deannounced the violence of al-qaeda. a police officer was killed. and these sorts of errant drone strikes lead to a question because the whole drone program is cloaked in secrecy what does the u.s. government do when it kills innocent civilians in a foreign coapt country like this? with when the u.s. military

inadverantly kills americans there is procedures for con condolence payments. they will make compensation to the families but what happens with drone programs cloaked in secrecy? we found a guy who was the relative of some of the innocents who were killed who recounted an incredible story. this was a cia drone strike. we tracked him down in yemen. interviewed him by skype and got a bunch of recording showing after the drone strike and human rights groups written about this and he was brought to washington to meet with members of the whitehouse he gets called to the national security bureau and it was still functioning in yemen and they had a government there. not sure what would happen now.

he was slipped a bag full of $150,000 in cash. green backs numbered and no paperwork. the deal is you make this money, take it back to the village pay the families but don't say anything about it and there is no record of it. fascinating account we were able to actually get the records showing how the money was ult immediately wired to an account in the guy's village fully cooberating his story. and we had others who were able to do it. and this was the first window into first the u.s. acknowledging that it was killing innocent people in a town in yemen and what it was trying to do to hamp it down. there was a big debate in the village that some people thought it was hush-money. they didn't want to take it but

they ultimately took it. it was a fascinating window into the what happens in the aftermath of a drone strike. that was something we were able to do on yahoo. we spent a lot of time on it. we had really gripping video. and it got a lot of attention. so it is just an example of the kind of work that we can do in this sort of new era of digital news. >> fascinating and quick question before going on to larry. you invested time money and effort into this particular story which could have been anything including a consumer investigative story, you put it up on the internet. do you have any concern other reporters will grab it after your investment, repackage it? >> i have that concern fe

"washington post," news week and, people see your stories and don't give you credit. but by and large people know you had it first and where it came from and it is very hard to take a story like that. it took a lot of time effort and a lot of accumulating documents and interviews for somebody to sort of rip it off without it being clear where the sore is coming from. >> let's go on at a larry roberts. he was an investigative editor at the "washington post" and executive editor at the huffinton post. he started his career in seattle and started an alternative weekly and became a reporter for united press international.

as an editor larry was a leader on the team that received three pullitzer prizes. one for looking into hubble telescope and another for looking into dick cheney and another for exposing the details of the abe-hof lobbying scandal. he showed how aol used accounting to fuel the merger with time warner. he taught journalism at weslyn university. larry, pro-pub lilica seems to be all of the talk. how are you funded? who is your audience? and what is your overarching

mission? >> thank you. i appreciate being here with the consumer federation and the panel. as the lone editor i am the man out kind ofism. we are a non-profit media room that started a fears ago. there was a fear among many of us at the time a couple yours years ago that the traditional media measures would not be able to devote the amount of resources into the way of investigative reporting in the sense of reporting that takes months to produce. at that time a lot of different kind of elements of the news system started to spring up.

pro-publica raised money from foundations and individuals and build over the last 6-7 years a newsroom of about 50 people focused only on journalism and the public interest. and that of course includes a big sloth of reporting on consumers and on how abuses of trust, fraud and what we bring to the table is a long-term commitment to working on stories however long they take to do. a big commitment to data collection and analysis and a feeling that every time we produce a story that is based on a huge amount ofidatey, we try to extend that reporting to local communities by partnering with people across the country who can do their own versions of

it. for example, we recently started a series on worker's compensation and took a reporter named michael gray bell about a year to produce and he analyzed how worker's comp laws in all 50 states showing disparities on how people are treated if they are hurt in you know, oklahoma as opposed to new york. and built this into a big database interactive chart and now we are working with news organizations, local and regional around the country, where they would do their own versions of the stories based on the research we produced. and that has been replicated along a number of stories like how pharmaceutical companies pay doctors which is up until now been hidden thing.

so we are like a couple other non-profit news organizations some of which are mentioned up here the center for public integrity and the center for investigative reporting based in san francisco. as the internet changed things and produced a lot of problems sfr what we call legacy news organizations itope opened up opportunities for different organizations to spring up and we have one of those groups >> larry, in your reporting, does pro-publica see as one of their roles the object as to influence and changing public policy? >> yes that is right.

all investigative journalism done there is implicitly this idea that if you expose things that are hidden or people don't want to be known or are abuses of consumers or power that may lead to change. but we have an explicit mission and that is when we tackle a topic we want to take it to the point where if people want to act on reform or change they can do it. so what that mainly means is that in the choice of what we chose to pursue we are looking for things that could lead to actual action. >> fascinating. next we have brody mullins who is an investigative report for "the wall street journal." he reported for the"the national journal" journal and role call before that.

recently his examineing of how wall street governments helped make the stock ad that bans members of congress and their aid in trading on stock based on inside information. his series of stories of lawmakers travelling on federal business revealed abuse, prodded cancel of things and led to reforms in how congress travelers broad. he has received several awards including the nationmal press reward for best journalist under the age of 34. he received the george poke award and was a finalist for the jarred lobe award and as washington magazine called him

one of washington's 50 best reporters. he is a true d.c. native and graduated from gonzaga. brody, "the wall street journal" for many advocates is a mystery. much of the investigative reporting done by you and colleague colleagues resulted in reforms. sort of like the rachel maddow show resulting in less government regulations. in terms of investigative reporting, how important is it to the fundamental mission of the journal? >> how important is investigative journalism? ...

>> >> lawmakers know and nobody

is watching the man that is a problem. >> pc pro public the to be competition to investigative reporting? >> i certainly do there is enough out there that people can stay in their own lane. also people were doing as well our nonprofit and we work in businesses and we need to make money. hopefully over the next coming years, newspapers and journalism will figure out how to make money from these stories. 51 best in a reporter to different stories over one year you could use the same resources to write 500 stories of the challenges how do you make money for

the long-term story? >> the "wall street journal" is unique to make money and it continues to be successful at generating enough revenue from its on-line subscription to be viable. when you are proposing and developing the investigative story ideas to your editors, and you ever run into pushed back that was often in the local press that it is a great story by not sure the advertisers will be comfortable. >> not at the "wall street journal" but others have lecture regional has as well for a long time. they are big enough if they are not dependent on one or two individual subscribers

to carry the paper. but it is a big problem. >> we have 1 million story ideas in the room so how do you decide which story idea you will pursue and what type of things are looking for from advocates to get you started on a story? >> i start with them my interested? have i heard this before? as a tv reporter are there people the hurt? what will make the story work on television is the key parts but i think we have done well we have figured out a way to make almost any story visual. it is an easy but it is a challenge and part of a kraft. dry want to spend the next three months on something

that is interesting to me that has not done out there before to have been the fact on people or policy. those are the questions for me. >> the big question we get are there any victims do you know, them or where are they? so you seem to have that ability to pull together the data how do you know where it shows there are victims and it does affect x number of people? >> it is so methodical process to collect data to rethink there is something new. also to point talked about the internet while initially it was seen by us in the news business as it was disruptive better also gives the enormous opportunity to reach people to have a two-way conversation with readers and consumers and advocates then judges.

once we embark on a story line often close say if you know, more about this, tell us or contact us and it has become an enormous source of stories of victims or individual stories or examples that are happening in places in the old-- would have taken a lot more time and effort to reach. >> the "wall street journal" is known for precision and expertise with no-nonsense approach. given what larry centcom what you think of that concept of crown sourcing for informational and to test whether or not it is real or legitimate? >> we have not done that directly but for the problem

with the information that goes out to the internet is credibility sometimes that is why you need a big name because if we're not there now we will be there soon. people do not know what to believe even on television it turns out not to be true in yesterday there was a story. i think readers will say or look to the brands that the trust to centrust that is true in the puts a burden on us to make sure we don't follow the story by 30 seconds but make sure it is right. >> obviously you are one of the more trusted reporters literally in the world. thinking about the trust antioch through, what kinds

of differences have you experienced? you had amazing experience with the post antioch to and nbc. were you under different guidelines? how will you create this credibility that some people wonder about the internet? >> first of all, in terms of guidelines, the short answer is no. there are standards in our profession and standards of professionalism and i pretty much had all these experiences. my direct editor now at yahoo! was my editor at "newsweek" was a former bureau chief in managing editor. meghan is a former editor of

"the new york times" magazine is the same professionals and the standards. to a large extent your work speaks for itself. people can read a story to get a pretty good sense once they dive into it if the workers there, it is corroborated, if the integration can be trusted. i think when you do good work regardless people recognize it. if you have something people have not seen elsewhere it will break through. there is a lot out there. a this is true for all of us. so many sources of news now

not just the traditional -- traditional legacy news organizations but a whole range of nonprofits to the boggs to the regional news services, ideological driven organizations that there is just a lot of noise and a lot can slip through the? this is my frustration and to keep tabs on everything that is out there. have finest something? very often it is word of mouth. did you see that? because i missed it on twitter i may not see a battle. brian denigrate piece on violations of human rights by the iraqi army i happened to see it on twitter and i watched the whole video. i did not know it was on

world news tonight. [laughter] but that is the way we get our news for:in one sense that is good to me as i see things because it was not watching the world news tonight because i was traveling but very often there is so much out there that the good stories get lost. >> but it is a huge number of new platforms for what we will have on twitter or facebook with apple tb we have all whole new investigative standard i think it is an exciting opportunity for all investigative reporters because there are fewer in this space in time with a great the opportunity. with our company and

partnering with yahoo! we're racing to be a part of the digital future. that is where it is going. >> as all this noise is going on one other trend and i may be paul dionne of but there's a growing sophistication among the news consuming audience about what is credible and what isn't. some years ago it was of free-for-all people would believe it but now i feel there is a coalescing of what is incredible source and i think that is a great friend -- trend. >> as a reporter myself one of the frustrations at nbc to fit into the "today show"

format the stories got shorter and shorter and two minutes is the issue dash takeout. i not labor under those same encumbrances i just got back two weeks ago from cuba and actually it was a fascinating trip i had the first interview of the five spies we could put together a seven minute video that ran on the web that had great stuff from the interviews and walking the streets of havana with the guys that were celebrated as national heroes but if i had to do that for network news

provide could have gotten two minutes that would have been a real gift but like to do something much more "in-depth" and much more satisfying. >> so it is that what you are able to expose why abc chooses to make a very large investment with your team? would you just have the nightly news they would not want to make that investment >> i am not sure about that but we are encouraged and demanded put this story of the iraqi army and allegations of war crimes from isis itself is not the thing that led be desirable as people are having dinner so we have a shorter piece even with 9 million people

watching then along your piece on line and facebook so that kind of reach justifies the investigative investment from abc. there is almost no story we can tell that gives us the opportunity to expand in terms of the business to make more money from television than on-line. we figure if you do good stories and they are available people will find them. >> following up on the comment of the increase, i'm not sure i agree but the end -- sophistication of the news consumer to differentiate of the internet was incredible source in what is illegitimate, how does the "wall street journal" deal with that?

could you don't want to go down the rabbit hole of all the comments because that could be hard but how does the "wall street journal" differentiate itself from the marietta of trade association indoor magazines that are starting to look and sound like a legitimate news publications as well as the other stuff. >> we have the advantage we have a brand name we have been around 100 years people know who we are a lot of people trust them a lot of people don't but they know who we are to make a decision especially with an editorial. but on the journalism side we have written a lot of stories that are intended to or that you hope affect

public policy for good. hoping it leads to policy changes. , that is what we would like to happen but it goes back to credibility to be careful you don't make mistakes if you are incredible messenger. it is incorrect and you lose that you lose the trust of the readers. >> a lot of people are concerned that much of the information on the internet and the news sources are unfiltered. is it because of the editors that start to clean up this information that cleans up the credibility cracksman i think the dynamic of the web, -- the dissemination

through twitter and other means questions about something that pops up if somebody comes out with something that is not right or can be proven wrong from the source that is questionable than that accountability happens much quicker and over time it has built up if it comes from abc news or the journal or the times it has a stronger bedrock of credibility than if it comes from someplace no one has ever heard of. because extremist heard the reports are built on these elements. >> ever like to open to all of you with an incredible opportunity to figure out what these four gentlemen are looking for from us.

>>. >> being in chicago speaking about regional papers for ferguson. do you think they had a strong investigative team there would have been a ferguson? >>. [laughter] >> i don't know enough to answer that i think they have done some great work. >> but there was coverage of ferguson's. >> are you talking about prior to the event?

>>. >> it is hard to know but i do know that with the "wall street journal" has done some great reporting of the police department. is hard to know if that was the case but i would not be critical. they showed themselves to be very tough. >> the consumer of but consumer protections internet you do great work it is a crucial part of our democracy but to flip that on its head with regional papers and one example in our state there is a regular column that is supposed to be a watchdog on government the journalist is top notch

with his investigations and his writing however he has to produce every single week , i don't think that gives him the ability to drill down there is always pressure to have content on a regular basis and it seems like one story that may have keeps getting twisted with a different fact or in gold and i have experienced it ends up in the opposite with mistrust of government where it shouldn't be. is that a phenomenon you have seen? had to deal with that as the editor. >> is that the paper? >> perhaps. [laughter] >> talk about the advantages

with people having access to more news event being able to distribute more widely it is true but with that 24/7 cycle with the need for the quick updates with the competitive landscape but any scrap of news or information if you don't get out quickly somebody will first in you will fall behind the curve it forces the of presses against the long term work even not even on the beach but investigative work. it is a problem but as i said earlier as to have those new organizations to fill the gaps it seems like there's an adjustment going on to preserve stronger accountability with watchdog

work but still a work in progress. >> that intention between taking months and months to do the really "in-depth" investigative piece and covering the news when you get a nugget of interest is something we have all faced from a whole career. i am not sure the answer is one or the other. remember having this conversation with bob woodward who first hired me when i worked for the "washington post". he reminded me watergate was in incremental story date did not take months and months. they cover the developments as they uncover them that led to more tips and more

resources and more stories. so very often covering it as you get it can be just as productive and informative for "the reader" as spending zero longtime to do those "in-depth" pieces. >> her step want to say it has been very interesting for me her or have heard about stories i have heard about before and god bless you on the block long issue. but the panel is the future of investigative journalism reporting. so i would like to have your opinion on what about i believe many americans do not believe the news media in general has much ethics

or integrity and my a example is you have an anchor food tried to make yourself a war hero, the far right guy on fox saying he was in the middle of contact and all this crap going on. they make their own news. then just a follow-up with ferguson, that has been going on for how long and it took the justice department to find out it is a cash generating a speed trap? but the media never got that it was the justice department so in that context what is your take on the integrity of the people that are presenting the news to us?

[laughter] >> whenever the shortcomings of individual reporters certainly nbc news is of integrity i worked there 20 years there are shortcomings and we all makers -- mistakes myself included but that is not fair to say that. the viewers trusted to live avenue anchor man now and the viewers have not abandoned them. i am not convinced that is the case that one flawed person or story suggests whole place is bad that is too broad a brush. i don't know the details but it is a place of integrity to this day.

i think. >> dire appreciate you all being here. i have two questions one is about the non sexy stories that possibly need to be told to comment on some of the attractive things and they're real good follow-up because some things could be so profound with one news account but it does need to change but some social problems are huge and needs multiple follow-ups just mentioned gerrymandering.

that is a profound national issue but yet where do we get the commitment from the media to look at something like that? so the nine sexy news and long term items that need a real commitment from folks like you. would you speak to those issues? >> 96 the news is what we specialize in. [laughter] somebody says let's look at workers' compensation. but we are not alone in this the you try to see this is the social issue reduces this need to be looked at? that is why you do the

methodical data to find out what is really there. then it becomes important than the sexy the ec those incredible disparities but no one has accounted for. i think good journalism work starts from they're not just the big nonprofits. >> consumer coalition there always concerned about the sweat shops and our shoes but i have heard no discussion this morning about the news:internationally that comes from the work that you do. my in box i counted them had 20 different request of journalists who were assassinated were injured because of stories they did.

so from the work you do abroad what impact does that have broad with the investigative reporting taking place over there? >> you have reported on sweatshops. >> wish i could say they have more impact in bangladesh with is a closed system and the workers really are at the mercy of the coalition of the government and manufacturers we attempt to put pressure on the american companies that take advantage of cheap labor frankly. that is how we have the greatest impact if we could influence tommy hilfiger or others and have gone to bangladesh to make the clothes that is the pressure point it is very dangerous

for a journalist in those countries to tell the truth and do see them killed in mexico on a routine basis that talk about the drug cartel and in the middle east for. forget americans that are killed by isis reporting on syria. i remember every single day what a great country we're in for journalists are free for the most part to tell the truth to not face retaliation they do elsewhere. it is a tough country with a good amendment those who do not use it to their full of vintage. >> good morning with the but emery county consumer protection office. we love hidden camera stories. maryland is a tea-party consent state the cannot

capture audio so how does that interfere with what you do and how would you like to see those changed? >> we are very aware of those laws you could do hitting camera just not hidden audial in your state where considering doing stories of getting care where can we? it does have a direct impact on the ability to catch people in the act so it is the challenge but we're very cognizant ending california it is actually a felony to record audio without telling them. >> of? interruption as a reporter reporter, do you find yourself getting involved in stories that need a visual c decide not to do it gore or

their great visual stories that are too long so you don't? >> not as much general think we had pictures and all five years ago at all. [laughter] but there is more of an emphasis to have a more vibrant and colorful paper with the layout is not quite like television or your approach the store looking for visuals but they encourage us to do online videos because advertisers really pay for those things right now but at the beginning of this story is not what i set out to do. >> i am an individual. so piggyback on the panel of

the future of investigative reporting and i see it is all men and it is all white. and to the point about ferguson in the people to make the decision may not be an issue that resonates with you but issues that are going on so if this is the future what is the problem? vitter to talk about people to sideline the law with the other sources because we're not telling the stories we want to hear the decisions are not made at the top level that are broad so if you talk about the future of this country and the demographics this is a little bit disheartening. [applause] >> if each of you could delve into that looking forward and backward to see who was coming up behind you

>> an excellent point* what you're looking at here is the past. [laughter] >> despite the makeup of the panel things are changing in the newsrooms. were african-americans, hispanics and asians all have responsibilities with all these groups so while we have been behind and not as aggressive as we should have been to be more diverse in their organizations it is a topline question but in terms of the topics it is a fair point those in the decision making decisions perhaps are not as in touch as they should be with inequality and race but by and large they are released

making efforts to redress that. >> is an absolutely excellent point* diversity is important not just for the sake of diversity but it does give other perspectives on what is the story. it does not speak directly to the issue of women or african-americans or minorities but how you view something is very much if you view it to a little bit differently suddenly it may not be a story is an incredible story with ferguson i remember covering the boston marathon bombing at the time.

it was a terrorism story and everybody was focused on food did this with the links abroad with a whole community and i remember watching the data identified the brothers and they were searching for the one that is now on trial. and to see the national guard and the troops coming in heavily-armed and it was amazing like being in there were some. at the time wasn't thinking about the militarization of our police department or what kind of environment that was creating a was covering a terrorism story but in retrospect there was.

the same story that got people alarmed during ferguson was fully on display in boston but that is not what people were talking about at the time. i use that as an example of how he looked as something slightly differently than your eyes open and you see a major story that is something diversity can contribute to but the onus is on us to take a step back to look at what we are seeing inhalable different way so you can see there are other things to report. >> thank you for all the good work you have done but i like more elaboration on the question of how you prioritize your work for purdue have anything that

says we look for the greatest good for the greatest number or anything like that? >> that is a good question. part of the issue is it is hard to figure out what their priorities are on a day-to-day basis i commend to the office every monday with the five stories i want to do that year. a few days later it is a different list then a different list so to try to look for stories on the short-term the stay relevant but then take those four or five stories sexy or not to do in that year so that we were distracted by all the noise on cable news and twitter keep your eye on the ball on that good story to do on a monthly or quarterly basis. we have to do that because few people get a one-year

run to work on one stories you have to compartmentalizes yourself with shorter stories tuesday in the news will focus on longer stories of the rise you're constantly writing 300 words stories. >> those affect millions of people vs 500 for those of have relevance for abc for those we have not heard of before or those that we have done before i would say those of the three threshold questions i would ask producers or the bosses would ask how many people are affected? has somebody else done this before? >>.

>> this has done a phenomenal. thank you very much for spending time with us. >>[applause] [inaudible conversations] good running. >> is mired privilege to offer the next keynote

speaker secretary of labor practice for a recent profile written upon his return from the negotiations of the west coast's strike with a second term cabinet and hero among the liberal left. as a card-carrying member i can attest to that accuracy of the assessment. so as a member of the obama administration only in the current position for the less than two years. but has already had an enormous impact this strengthening protections for retirement favors the fact that we stand here

today with a fighting chance to make this embattled effort a reality is due and though small part to his leadership. from date number one secretary for regis made it his own and in doing so shows the same ability to reach out to opponents and listen to all sides to bring people together in a recent conversation maybe not turned into instant supporters as a miracle worker but at least to dial down the volume of opposition so there is the potential to move forward. said to bring that passion and without broader causes that works for everyone. than he is the rabil deal so

please join me to welcome secretary press. [applause] >> good morning. i have a feeling first of all, thank you for your kind introduction. you are the real deal and she has been a stalwart in so many areas including the retirement space thank you. because the success to build the american networks for everyone is a joint venture. you have to have those for those that share our values for those that get it to

have a serial activist that do the same might have had a privileged in montgomery county that is maybe seven or eight stops on the metro. had the privilege to work at the state level as the state level secretary in maryland and now i'm here all the you could say i have trouble holding a job. i have a profound appreciation. so dash that no local level that we enhance to create an office of consumer protection with human-rights ordinances to build protections lattice state level we did a similar things.

>> i am a firm believer the redundancy and federal laws and state laws because of the political will of those that and forced them. those that may not necessarily be there. but that constant so i was excited to be here. you fight many uphill battles the odds are long the setbacks of feel like many but widely ago i was in selma commemorating the

anniversary of bloody sunday. when i earned -- learned is many whose names you know, or who don't so we have extraordinary people that they called good trouble and then we have people but so many others who are marchers in the movement. with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. with the inclusive america that is which we feel though whole team everybody is treated with dignity and

everybody has an opportunity. so to continue to make sure some with that vision who is about is the movement from extraordinary individuals. so that there is no different and you are part of that movement. i look at the folders in debt is education security or employment security our housing security or physical security, retirement security so how do you build

an america that works for everyone? last year the incarceration rate and the crime rate went down for the first time in four years because this president to a smart content approach. look at health care security insurance rates have dropped as the greatest levels of 40 years as a result of the affordable care act. from ronald reagan in his 60's said medicare will be to socialize medicine. ashley to listen to the album because i got curious ashley will lead to socialism in america. it also led to retirement

security and is a staple for who we are. thanks folks when i was in college without claiborne i could not have gone through college. that is a great equalizer. we all need everybody to have a of four year degree. sova to solidify that pillar of self-sufficiency with the 60 consecutive months of private sector job growth to the tune of 12 million jobs with the deaths of the recession now there is 1.8 or 1.7.

so outsourcing is yesterday but the plant that mitt romney said is going to china, i have spent there the city was partially right. cover product is going overseas that they have added over 1,000 jobs. with that resurgence in america. to see foreclosures are narrowed down significantly and to see what the president did recently for the fha lenders to help them get access for the american trade and look at the work we're doing to make sure the leadership of the cftc that consumers have a meaningful voice the whole consumer space is a fantastic example

of the world of false choices when we had the wild wild west with the absence of regulation and you have a sound business climate for lenders for regulation you can have common sense. with those cases than the nation's history i had a conversation with a high ranking executive who said in the depths of the of wild wild west always losing my best people to countrywide that was the bottom feeder with new rules for'' you could go there for two years and retire because you made that much money to prey on people. they did not want to do that because they had efiks

nobody was finding the shot in the bush administration with the wild wild west so many people through the corrosive power has the american dream translated into the american nightmare they are signed on the dotted lines and will to date no there were some in the fast track to foreclosures the minister always reject false choices when we have common sense rules in place that does not help consumers responsible lenders. we live in a world the false choices to think about policing in that space there is a tendency to say we have a safe communities or respect for the constitution is a false choice.

we can do both and we have. that brings me to the teller of self-sufficiency that is retirement so much time building middle-class economics to make sure that people can punch the ticket to the middle-class with ladders of opportunity. there is no free rides for people willing to work hard and there are jobs out there. the report we released three days ago 500,000 that pays 50 percent more than the average private-sector job but as we move forward as a nation we want to have good

jobs that pay ed decent wage so people who work hard to have a safe workplace if you go to work in the morning ever right to know you will come home safe and sound the other from a coal mine or police department or from any business that you work at those are the pillars of middle-class security we've reached the end of your work life all the hard earned money we want to make sure you have a good retirement and times have changed we are not in though leave it to beaver world anymore when ward and june were together working 40 years at the office he had a defined benefit plan it at the end of the career he got a watch and a handshake and they did

not have to think about how will i invest more retirement he will supply 40 years' time is a formula may be 1.542 and you have your retirement. but it is replaced by modern family hear we are in the universe of a defined contribution plan where people reach the end of there working career men now they have to make decisions on how to invest their money. i have said hundreds of times. . .

this is suitable treatment for you tom. suitability. yes. i want you to tell me, what is the maximum way i can live okay? and that's what they do. if i got arrested for something, and i'm trying to figure out what my best defense is i want my lawyer to tell me, that's suitable. you can do that. well why do we allow this in the financial space. the answer is there are many many folks who hold themselves

up to that highest standard of protecting and looking out for your client's interests. we have financial planner who is a certified financial planner, and he looks out for us. so, for instance, i was in the federal government from 1989 to 2001 and then i left federal service and came back a few years later and we hired him in the early 2000's one of this pieces of advice keep your money in a savings plan. that's a pretty good plan. that didn't get him any money but he was certainly looking out for our best interests. when he said that. and so what we have been doing in the consumer space here in the retirement space, we have to figure out what is in the best interests of the client and one of the people that i have met in the course of this journey on this issue -- i think this is

one of the most important, if not the most important, thing that we can do in the next two years, to help consumers in their retirement space, is this rule we are working on, because you know what? i meet people like jack vogel. i think he has been in the didn't -- i know he has been in the business longer than i've been on the planet because i think he said 64 years he's been in the business. he looks very well, by the way. man. and i want his water. you know, he said something that really kind of summarizes this whole enterprise, which is you know what? i learned in this business of financial advice that when you put your customers first, that's good for your customers and it's good for business. it's really that simple. and that's what he has done. that's what our adviser does. he is a certified financial planner, and you know what?

that's what so many people do. i think it's important in having this discussion not to paint with an unduly broadbrush and never to be unfair to these scores of people who are in this space, who do fantastic work. i applaud those efforts. and during the course of our outreach -- i'm a firm believer that when you are doing a rule the most important thing you need to do is to construct the broadest table possible, because if you are not a good listener you're not a good regulator. and that is what we have done of the course of my 18 months on the job. we deliberately slowed this process down because we knew how important it was, we knew the value of listening, and we knew that we needed to engage a broader ray of stakeholders. we needed to talk to the sec, and have done that with great regularity and learned so much from that. i have great respect for mary jo white and her team and the dead

crated career professionals ante sec who have been helpful. and rich cordray and his team who have been very helpful. and industry stakeholders with whom we have met with regularity, because they have been very helpful in enabling to us understand the business model. and to understand you thread the needle. think it's a false choice to suggest the only way to continue the business of providing financial service advice to folks is the status quo. i categorically reject that. and i have heard from some, i don't understand the problem you're seeking to solve. and with all due respect, i can't believe that you don't understand the problem that we're seeking to solve. i really don't. i don't mean that disrespectfully. and fortunately i have heard that less and less in recent

months. i heard that at the outset, and i hear that less and less and that is the good news. and so what are we trying to do? with our proposed rule? we're trying to -- and we're trying to solve the problems that have afflicted so many people. i think about the family elaine and merlin, they saved $650,000 throughout their career. and they had that nest egg. they did everything right. and they tried to figure out how to save it, invest it, because they were in the new paradigm, and they go to their local bank and they get put into a veriable annuity. very complex instrument. the fees were something like $26,000 a year.